Monday, December 11, 2017

Let it snow! Let it snow! Yes, we’re dreaming of a white Christmas!

The
last days of fall are still with us and the long shadows that are being cast
over the golf course behind our home are a reminder that the dark days of
winter are not that far away. Ominous clouds seem to be ever present but the
vista from our deck continues to remind us why we moved to Windsor, Colorado –
it’s simply a quiet retreat where everyone knows their neighbors. The sense of
village and community is unmistakable and as good natured as we are about it,
there are still times when we miss our old haunts. Fine dining in Windsor?
There are BBQ joints and fast-food outlets, but little to compare with what we
enjoyed in Boulder County.

Then again, this is truly the season to entertain and to enjoy meals served at
home and the deck-side grill has seen a lot of overtime. If you had told me
that you could turn to a simple Coleman propane gas grill – yes, the same one
we take with us on our RV excursions – and turn out really good food then I
would have thought you were exaggerating. But turn out good meals is exactly
what it has been doing and with the weather continuing to remain fine, we have
kept at it even as the calendar is telling us winter is about to arrive.

For
all intents and purposes, we have said good bye to our RV – the vehicle we
depend upon during the warmer months as our company command center. As a home
away from home on business trips across the country, it became a place where we
can easily unwind. No matter the location or the temperature, it has really
changed our life so much so that given an opportunity to conduct business anywhere
in North America, we can be ready in 48 hours. Pulling the trailer with the
Mini Roadster on board has become a standard practice for us, but even so, next
spring we will be looking into installing a Blue Ox tow hitch so we can tow the
Mini. There are just too many places that prohibit entering with a trailer
attached, so unhooking the Mini at the arrival gate makes life a whole lot
simpler.

While this isn’t an issue when we are actually on site where we are doing
business, as we often take three or four days to get to our destination, we can
be afforded side excursions to see what we are passing through – and many times
this past summer, the views were such that they were too hard to ignore.
Pictured above is a parting shot from Zion National Park with the Watchman
looking down on us – a majestic rock formation that is as much a hallmark of
Zion as are the Narrows and Angels Landing. Now the RV is being winterized with
scheduled maintenance and warranty work being done and shortly we will be
retiring it to our storage facility for the winter.

It was just a few weeks back that business took us all
the way back to San Francisco and the coast for an HPE event focused on its NonStop
systems. At this time of year we rely on our Jeep and just to remind us why,
the afternoon of the day before we left, it snowed. Only briefly and it was all
gone by the next morning, but nevertheless, it is that time of the year but we
really aren’t looking forward to it. However, when it comes to maintenance, it
isn’t just about the RV, as we replaced the tires on the Jeep a day or two
earlier only to return to Windsor with all the lights on telling us we needed
to replace brake pads (and rotors).

That, unfortunately wasn’t the end of the tale as our Mini had to have its rear
pads and rotors replaced (the fronts had been replaced a little earlier) only
to realize the tires had to go. What a year: Six tires on the RV, four tires on
the Jeep with new tires for the Mini on order and fresh brakes all around. In
the meantime, our beloved Corvette is sitting in the garage waiting for new
tires as well, but they will have to wait till spring, as winter is no time to
take to the highways in the Corvette. No matter how best we plan it there is
always something that needs replacing and with the BMW i8 going in for routine
service we are certain that we will be told that there are parts that need replacing!

The trip to San Francisco was without a glitch and the
event itself went smoothly enough, so with the end of the week approaching we
elected to drive back to Windsor via Monterey. A veritable shortcut for anyone
who likes to drive and as we had planned to stop by former business associates and
now really good friends living just outside Sacramento, it was an opportunity
to catch our breath between meetings. Monterey is always a welcome interruption
and with dinner at the Sardine Factory – remember those Visa ads featuring this
restaurant and how you had to take Visa as they didn’t accept American Express
– well, it has changed little through the years.

We
overnighted in a hotel that was anything but first class (there was no car
parking option only a valet service to a nearby parking station), it’s location
for the price was exceptional as it placed us right in the center of the
restaurant and shopping district of waterfront Monterey. No matter the time of
the year, it is always a lively place and there were many venues where you
could sip a glass of wine and simply peer out the window – something Margo and
I have become experts at doing! Cutting across country and into the heart of
the San Joaquin Valley meant we had a short run up Interstate 5 and would you
believe it? It rained!

As
much as the trip to San Francisco proved to be a break within routine and yes,
the return trip proved a little more difficult as high winds and blowing snow
closed Interstate 80 in the center of Wyoming delaying us a day, I were only spending
a week in Windsor before I had to pack for another trip. Prior to leaving for
San Francisco I received an invitation from HPE to be its guest at the big-tent
marketing event in Madrid, Spain. And as much as I dislike flying anywhere
there was no way around it – I were flying to Europe once again. HPE invites
independent bloggers to its events and while I have been invited to participate
at previous events in Las Vegas, this was my first invitation to venture
overseas.

The
hotel HPE chose for us was in “the best location in the Plaza de España” – the
Barceló Torre de Madrid. A hotel that billed itself as being a luxury designer
hotel located in one of the most iconic buildings in Madrid and as such,
it proved to be a really good choice. Thank you, HPE. Of course, being in the
heart of Madrid meant that we were far from the Convention Center, so HPE had
busses on hand to ensure smooth transfers to and from the event. I have been to
Madrid several times in the past and while it is not my favorite city in
Europe, HPE did go out of its way to ensure our time in Madrid was enjoyable.
Again, many thanks, HPE.

Naturally enough, if you are in Madrid you are never too far
from good olives and for me, the best way to enjoy an olive, or two, is with a
martini and the hotel bar didn’t disappoint. They provided as many olives as
you wanted and they tasted great! As for the tapas there were many tapas bars
in the area and there was no chance that I would pass them by – the air-cured
hams were wonderful as was the seafood. Perhaps Madrid isn’t that bad a place
to visit after all! As for the event, there were a number of surprises and for
a blogger, more than enough material to keep posts and commentaries coming for
several weeks to come.

Of course, if you are in Madrid you are never too far
from good olives and for me, the best way to enjoy an olive, or two, is with a
martini and the hotel bar didn’t disappoint. They provided as many olives as
you wanted and they tasted great! As for the tapas there were many tapas bars
in the area and there was no chance that I would pass them by – the air-cured
hams were wonderful as was the seafood. Perhaps Madrid isn’t that bad a place
to visit after all! As for the event, there were a number of surprises and for
a blogger, more than enough material to keep posts and commentaries coming for
several weeks to come.

When our busload of bloggers first descended onto the exhibition hall, my first reaction was to assume we had somehow been magically transported to the LA Car Show going on around the same time. Numerous stands featured cars and I am still not sure how many were featured, but I do recall seeing a Jaguar, and Audi and a BMW. The presence had less to do with hybrids or fully electric cars as it did with the Internet of Things (IoT) and autonomous operation. On the other hand, the one car that did catch my interest was the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) that was campaigned in 2017 in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS).

Powered by a Nissan 5 liter V8 – yes, I know, many of us only know that these V8s came from trucks originally and you cannot buy a Nissan with this engine – but it looked one serious race car even if to my eye it was pretty low tech. However, that was the point as the promoters wanted to include a prototype vehicle that almost any team could build and run for the year. I am still at a loss as to what exactly it was doing on the floor of the exhibition hall but it certainly proved to be attractive eye candy for everyone walking into the hall. As fortune would have it, I was able to spend a little time with its driver, Max Hanratty, who had been campaigning in Formula 1600 and USF2000 open wheel series and knew our friend’s grandson, Colton Herta as well as his father, Bryan.

Returning to the home front, we finally received our
last piece of quartz that we wanted for the kitchen bar. We wanted to provide
some separation between the actual kitchen and the bar itself and what we chose
turned out to fit the bill entirely. The photo doesn’t do it justice; it does
tie together with the colors of the floor, the backsplash and the cabinets and
overall, it blends in well with the rest of the open floor plan that
encompasses the kitchen, living and dining areas. We only have the drapes and
blinds to be installed and we will be pretty much done with the main floor.

What comes next now will be
the basement and if you were wondering about the original piece of white quartz
we originally had in the kitchen, it is heading downstairs for the bar that
will be built. In fact, when completed the bar will mimic the kitchen but in
reverse – where there is light quartz in the kitchen there will the grained
quarts you see in the photo above. And where there is the grained quartz, it
will be white. When we moved into our home, much of the basement had already
been framed with only drywall and hardware required so we have asked for quotes
to complete the build out.

Hopefully, if all goes to plan, we will have it finished in time for spring. In
the meantime we set it up as a low-tech home theater – we have some very old 35mm
slides and we sometimes go down to our unfinished basement and watch the
pictures. We think after the basement is finished our move to Windsor will
truly be complete, with memories of former residences slipping further into the
past … if only we can see some snow around here. A white Christmas? Now
wouldn’t that be a fitting end to one amazing year!